


Something Only The Brave Do

by blackjacktheboss



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 05:40:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11914359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackjacktheboss/pseuds/blackjacktheboss





	Something Only The Brave Do

“Leo, stop fidgeting!” Piper yelled as she slapped his hand.

“These hands are too hot to stay still McLean, you should know that by now.”

Piper rolled her eyes and laughed as she adjusted the crooked graduation cap on her best friend’s head. He was graduating fifth in his class, and heading to M.I.T. in the fall to study electrical science and engineering, and he had never been happier in his life.

“Do you think she’ll come?” Piper asks sheepishly.

“No, last she wrote she was in the Maldives going island to island.”

“Well it’s her loss, buddy,” said Jason, clapping a hand onto Leo’s shoulder. Leo just smiled at his friends, trying to focus on who was here to support him today versus who wasn’t. Talking about Calypso didn’t hurt as much as it once did. Now it only seemed to carry a dull pain, no longer as keen as it was right after she left.

Living back in Texas with his Tia Mago, who Chiron had managed to locate after the war, he had truly found a home. He had a whole family that had stories about his mom when she was a little girl, and he felt connected to her in a way he hadn’t since the last time she held him. As he walked across the graduation stage his cheering section erupted.  He looked out and saw Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Percy, Annabeth and Coach Hedge holding up Buford, along with his cousins, aunts, and uncles, and even spotted who he thought was his dad in the back of the auditorium. Leo was filled with an overwhelming sense of joy. Three years ago, he never would have guessed that this is where his life would be.

* * *

Along with Festus, Leo and Calypso had arrived back at Camp Half Blood 5 months after the war ended. His friends trickled in to have their heart felt and teary eyed reunions, except for Piper who punched Leo in the jaw and threatened to kill him if he ever faked his death again. After a few weeks of what Leo thought was content down time, Calypso had asked him to take a walk with her after dinner.

“Leo, I need to leave Camp,” she said.

“Okay, where do you wanna go? I can have Festus ready in an hour.”

“No, Leo, I… I’m sorry but I need to leave on my own.”

After that, everything started to sound far away for Leo.

“You have to understand, all I have dreamt about is getting off that island and being able to discover the new world, not just hear or dream about it. The thing the gods have really stolen from me for so long is the ability to choose who and what I fall in love with, and I love you Leo I really do, but I need to know what else is out there for me to love. We both have so much to discover about ourselves and the world around us, and this is really just something I have to do on my own. I can’t ask you to wait for me but I hope we can try to be friends beca-“

“Friends?” That word brought Leo back from the fog his mind had descended into, and he felt a pocket of anger explode inside him. “You want to be friends? I sacrificed my life, I lied to my friends and put them through hell to get you off that island so that we could be together and you’re just gonna leave me like I don’t matter? Like we don’t matter?! Why would I be friends with someone who could just leave me!”

He saw the sadness in Calypso’s eyes disappear instantly. “I didn’t ask you to save me, Leo Valdez. I am not your damsel, who begged to be saved by the big strong hero. If you really only saved me so that we could be together, then you’re not the hero I thought you were. You’re no better than the ones who washed up on my shore and used me for shelter and food and anything else they could get their hands on. I am the daughter of a Titan, and I have existed since before the star that formed you was even a speck and as much as I love you I will never let you reduce me to a footnote in your story.”

Leo faltered under her gaze, which had started to glow gold along with the freckles that peppered her face.

“If you want to leave, then I won’t stop you. Have a great life, Calypso.”  

He didn’t look back as he stormed towards Bunker 9 with tears stinging his eyes.

That night Leo can’t stop fidgeting in his bunk, replaying the conversation over and over. Eventually his siblings can’t take it anymore and beg the Hypnos cabin to forcibly put Leo to sleep. In his dream, he stood tinkering with scraps in bunker 9 when his mother appeared next to him.

“We need to talk, mijo.”

Leo stood stunned, unable to form words.

“This is not the man I raised you to be, Leo.”

“Ma, you don’t understand.”

“Yo entiendo perfectamente, mi amor. I know I left before we got to have a lot of the important talks I always wanted to have with you, but you have to know that this is not the way to be.”

He couldn’t bring himself to look into his mother’s eyes.

“She left me,” he said in barely a whisper, “I did everything a hero is supposed to do and she still left me.”

“And she told you why. It wasn’t about you, mijo, she had to leave for her. And if you truly love her you must try to understand that as much as she needs to keep moving, you have to plant roots,” Esperanza reached out and caressed her son’s cheek, raising his chin so he could look at her face. “You’ve grown so much, Leo, and you still have so much growing to do. You have to realize that the feeling of love and actually loving someone are two very different things. And loving is something only the brave do.” She kissed him on the forehead, and let their heads rest against one another.  

“Be brave, mijo,” she whispered.

Leo woke in a cold sweat, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, trying desperately to remember the exact pressure of his mother’s lips on his forehead.

* * *

With the help of Stella, a daughter of Hecate, and Morris, a son of Iris, he was able to locate Calypso and send her an Iris message. As soon as she appears in front of him, his heart skips a beat.

“Leo?”

“Before you say anything please just hear me out. I’m so sorry about what I said to you. I was hurt and I said things I shouldn’t have, not that me being upset is any excuse. It’s just… I’ve been pretty much alone since my mom died, okay? And I’ve seen all my friends find someone and it kinda felt like them finding each other meant them leaving me too. I saved you for really selfish reasons, and I know that now. But I think… I think I’d like to try and be your friend because I do love you and I wanna keep loving you in any way I can.”

He finally stops to breathe, and notices the most beautiful smile shining back at him. Remembering that smile helps ease the pain of not being with her.

* * *

Leo missed M.I.T. He missed staying up all night to figure out an equation. He missed living off Redbull for days. He missed the several fleeting romances he had with beautiful and genius girls who were out of his league. He missed his therapy sessions with the school provided counselor. He missed giving his friends tours of his new home when they came for visits. He missed being surrounded by people who understood him when he rattled on at a million miles a second about his latest idea for an invention. He missed springtime in Boston. And he missed his beautiful lab where he spent more time than he cared to count. But life in Texas wasn’t so bad.

After graduation, Leo’s Tia Mago encouraged him to move back home and open a shop of his own, just like his mom. So after one last summer as a counselor at Camp, Leo embarks on what Chiron calls his hero journey back to where it all began.

With the help of his siblings, he gets Esperanza’s Garage up and running, complete with an upstairs loft for him to live in and a Bunker-9-like workshop in the back for Festus to live in. The business thrives in no time, and Leo becomes known in the community for his quick and solid work, and his willingness to help out those in need, especially single moms. He even takes interns from the local high school, mentoring them as best he can and even spotting the odd demigod or two.

One day, he lets his staff go home early since it’s Friday and they had cleared out all the priority work that day. He stood at the front desk, flipping through a car catalogue, pausing every now and then to look at the wall decorated in all the post cards Calypso has sent him over the years. Right before closing, he hears the door open and feels the presence of someone standing in front of him. He looks down at the hand resting on the counter in front of him with the most stunning olive skin he’s ever seen; his eyes trace up the arm to find a beautiful braid that rests on an even more beautiful shoulder, and further up more the most incredible dark eyes stare back at him and seem to welcome him home.

“Calypso,” he whispers.

She’s wearing a plain white v-neck t-shirt and jeans, and Leo thinks she’s never looked more beautiful. Her skin is glowing in a way it never really has before. It’s probably because she’s truly happy for the first time in too long, he thinks to himself.

“Hello Leo,” she says shyly. “It’s really good to see you.”

“What are, uh, what are you doing here?” he asked, standing up straight. He had grown two inches in the last three years, an accomplishment he was particularly proud of.

“Well, I haven’t been to Texas yet, and I hear it’s pretty big so it could take a while to explore and I was wondering if.. I could maybe… stay with you for a while.”

Leo’s heart almost stops.

“Plus,” she says looking down, “a long time ago you promised me a job, and making money in this new world seems a bit more complicated than it was back when I saw it last.”

A sly smile spread across Leo’s lips as he began to absorb that this really wasn’t a dream.

“Lucky for you, you come very highly recommended,” he says, taking her hand in his.

He comes out from behind the counter, and bows. “Ms. Calypso, welcome to Leo’s little corner of Paradise, where the air is hot, the politics conservative and oil stains on your clothes are a guarantee. May I offer you the grand tour?”

She kisses him slowly after that, and they melt into each other, knowing that unlike before, they now have nothing but time.


End file.
